Classic Brownies

(These are a picture of my grandma’s brownies, not the first ones I talk about.)

You might think all we eat are sweets. I could understand why too, based on what I blog about. But I promise, we have our dinner before dessert almost every night. I’ve been wanting to try these classic brownies from smitten kitchen for a few weeks now, and finally got around to making them on Wednesday. From the look of her pictures and what she had to say about them, I thought these would be the best brownies to hit our kitchen.

Not so much.

Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t bad, but when I think I’d rather have the Wal-Mart brand fudge brownie mix that costs less than a dollar and comes in a little pouch than something that came out of Cook’s Illustrated magazine, well, then I’d say don’t bother wasting your time on the extra effort. My overall favorite brownies are still my Grandma’s recipe, but I don’t make them often because I will seriously eat the whole pan by myself in less than 24 hours. And I just don’t want to look pregnant when I’m not, so I try to exercise a little self-control. And I don’t have much self-control when they’re sitting on my counter. If I were you, I’d be wondering about my Grandma’s recipe right about now, you know, if you’re going to have a bunch of people to feed sometime soon. There’s something about that cocoa powder and the immense amount of powdered sugar on top that’s awesome. And I know what you’ll be thinking when you see how much oil goes into these, but the soft, chewy texture it creates…mmmm…they just melt in your mouth. And I love that about a brownie.

Here’s the lowdown:

Whisk together all your dry ingredients.

Then add all the wet ingredients right on top.  (This is a one-bowl brownie.  Hallelujah.)

And stir it all up until it looks about like this.

Dump it all in your half sheet pan and smooth it out so it’s evenly distributed.  Sort of, at least.

Bake, being oh so careful not to overbake ’em.

And sprinkle powdered sugar on top to your heart’s content.  (This is probably only about halfway there for me if I’m being really honest with myself.)

Grandma Pease’s Brownies
Note: I often halve this recipe since it makes such a large pan of brownies. A half portion will fit in a small jellyroll pan nicely.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
8 tablespoons cocoa
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour into a greased rimmed cookie sheet and bake only 15-20 minutes. Do not overbake. Sprinkle, or spoon large amounts of powdered sugar on top. Just be careful not to inhale when you take a bite. 🙂

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Classic, Simple Sugar Cookies